Restart
by Forgotten in Shadows
Summary: Tricked by Danzo, Naruto undergoes a transformation into an unstoppable killing machine. His past has been erased, and his future is uncertain. All we know is: Naruto isn't human anymore. Naruto Xmen cross over, NaruHina. M for violence and language.
1. Chapter 1

I'M BACK!!! With a restored will to write and a newfound appreciation of the semicolon! I've decided to write a serious story for once. Unlike my other two stories, this one will have some sort of a plot. Not only that, but it's a cross over! This is revolutionary! ...at least, for me. Anywho, this is my first attempt at anything serious so feedback is always appreciated!

This story is set between the magical time where Sasuke's killed his Itachi, and Pein attacks Konoha. So Tsunade's still Hokage, m'kay? Onward!!

* * *

It had been raining heavily for some time now; long enough to soak through the jacket of a young ninja as he ran through the tree tops. His breath was coming in gasps as he fumbled among the branches, yet his determination drove him forward. Ahead smoke was rising up amonst the tree tops, and crashes were echoing throughout the forest. Uzumaki Naruto ran towards the noise for all that he was worth, praying he wouldn't arrive too late.

This mission had started out like all the other ones had. News had come in about Uchiha Sasuke's where-abouts, and Team 7 went off to try and capture the traitor. Their search led them to a small town that seemed to have been abandoned some years ago. Buildings were decaying, stone foundations crumbling, and not a trace of human life anywhere. Disheartened, Team 7 began their trip back home. That's when things changed. While traveling through the forest, Kakashi sensed the presence of ninjas not far from the teams location. They didn't think much of it, but the four put up their guards. That's when the attack came.

The Konoha ninjas were ambused by their former teammate, and his three companions. Sai quickly took out the girl of the team, Karin, while Kakashi struggled against Suigetsu. Sakura hesitated a bit, but then decided on attacking Jugo, who seemed a bit unwilling to fight at first. Naruto headed straight at his former best friend, and the two began what they were sure was their final showdown. The fighting continued, with Sai assisting Kakashi it taking down Suigetsu. The two then headed towards where Naruto and Sasuke fought, when suddenly Jugo's curse seal became active, and he began to attack Sakura with renewed vigor. Seeing how neither Sasuke nor Naruto seemed to be gaining the upperhand, the two shinobi ran to assist their pink-haired teammate. Killing Jugo proved to be more difficult than they thought, as before Kakashi could land the final blow, Jugo struck out at him; horribly wounding the masked man. Sai and Sakura quickly dispatched their distracted foe, and Sakura set to healing her former sensei. Once it was clear Kakashi was in no danger of dying, Sakura rushed off to help Naruto, while Sai stayed behind to call for reenforcements.

Sakura arrived just as Naruto was thrown back by Sasuke's Chidori Nagashi. Sasuke attempted to retreat from the battle, but Sakura quickly chased after her former crush. Once Naruto was able to move once more, he ran after the two. This brings us to the present, where Naruto is quickly making his way toward the sound of his best friends battling.

Suddenly, all noise stopped.

The sound of rocks breaking from Sakura's super punches ceased. There were no explosions from Sasuke's fire balls, no crash of falling trees, no shouts of anger. Naruto paused, waiting to see if the battle resumed elsewhere, or maybe to see if a victorious Sakura would run towards him, carrying an unconsious Sasuke with her. He waited, but the sounds did not resume.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto called, once again rushing for the battle field. He was hoping with all his might that he would find the battle over, and Sakura okay; but a feeling of dread crept forth from the back of his mind. The blonde ninja sprinted through the trees and arrived at an unnatural clearing formed by fallen trees and destroyed ground.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto called again, searching frantically for his teammate. There on the other side of the clearing, he could see a figure lying on the ground. The bottom fell out of Naruto's stomach as he recongnized Sakura's pink hair. He quickly ran towards his fallen teammate.

'Please don't be dead,' He thought as he rushed forward, 'Sakura-chan can't be dead, she can't die!'

A lump formed in Naruto's throat when he saw the blood soaking through his teammate's shirt. There was a large gash accross Sakura's chest, going from her left shoulder to the middle of her torso. Slowly, fearfully, Naruto reached down and touched his friend's arm.

"Sa-Sakura-chan?" he said, hoping beyond hope that she would open her eyes. His teammate did not respond. Tears began forming in Naruto's eyes.

"Sasuke!" He shouted, rising to his feet, "Sasuke, you bastard, where are you!?" There was no sign of his former teammate anywhere.

"How could you Sasuke!" Naruto continued to shout, "She was in love with you! This was supposed to be between you and me!"

Suddenly, a figure emerged from the tree line. Uchiha Sasuke, tired and dirty but remaining as stoic as ever, walked forward to face his former friend. Naruto glared at him, tears continuing to fall for his defeated teammate.

"Why Sasuke?" he shouted, "Why'd you kill her you bastard!?"

The dark haired shinobi gazed unemotionatly into the blonde's eyes, "She was an obstical in my way of getting my revenge."

"Bullshit!" Naruto shouted, "You're brother's dead! You already got your revenge!"

"Hardly!" Sasuke shouted in return, "My brother was forced to kill my entire family by the Konoha council so they could protect their worthless ambitions! My family was taken from me by the people I served for my wasted childhood. I will not rest until Konoha is destroyed."

Naruto's gaze hardened, and menacing red chakra began to manafest around his body, "I won't let you!" he shouted, his voice taking a visious tone. More chakra began to appear, as slowly, tails of demonic energy began to form. Naruto howled in rage as he began to take a more animalistic appearance, "I'll kill you!"

The enraged nin lunged at his foe, who was swiftly going through handsigns. Just as Naruto was about to rip his clawed hands through him, Sasuke vanished in a puff of smoke. Naruto roared again, furious over his enemy's escape. The torrent of red chakra began to increase, as Naruto slowly lost himself to his anger.

Suddenly, Naruto was struck from behind. He quickly swirled around before he felt his chakra fading. He saw Kakashi standing before him as Naruto was overcome by a sudden exhaustion.

"Ka...kashi...sensei?" Naruto whispered. Kakashi was quick to catch him before he fell.

"I was able to put a seal on you before you got out of hand," Kakashi explained, "Don't worry help is comming soon."

"Sak...ura-chan..."

"She's got a pulse!" Sai shouted from where he stood near the kunoichi's unconsious form, "She's still alive, but barley. She'll make it if we hurry back to the village."

Relief flooded Naruto's brain, before he was embraced in blackness, and knew no more.

* * *

Haggard and dirty, Sai and Kakashi arrived in Konoha with their two unconsious teammates in tow. Not even bothering to aknowledge the chunin at the gate, the ninjas high-tailed it towards Konoha General Hosipital. Sakura's survival depended on their speed.

Bursting through the hosiptal doors, they immediatly attracted the attention of several nurses. Sai, who was carrying Sakura, rushed forward and placed her prone form on an empty gurney.

"What happened to her?" a nurse asked as others attatched life-support machines and prepared blood transfusions. Sai began to calmly explain Sakura's perdicament, while another nurse relieved Kakashi of his unconsious burden.

"He doesn't seem to be injured," the nurse stated, examining Naruto's body, "What happened?"

"He suffered some mental strain during the mission," Kakashi said vaugely. Even though the citizens of Konoha had accepted Naruto, there was no need to give them any reason to reopen old wounds. The nurse begrudgingly accepted his explanation, and moved Naruto onto another gurney. Sakura had been rushed off to surgery, and there was nothing for the two members of Team 7 to do but wait.

Wait, and pray their friends would be alright.

* * *

The light above the operation room finally was turned off, and Kakashi and Sai rose from their chairs to learn the fait of their pink-haired teammate. A nurse came through the double doors and approched the two.

"Haruno-san is going to be alright," She said, smiling happily. Relief hit the two ninjas. The nurse continued on, "She'll need to remain here for care for a few days, but she should be up and about in a week or two."

"Thank you so much," Kakashi said.

"How is Uzumaki Naruto?" asked Sai. The two had let the doctors take Naruto off to care while they waited to see if Sakura would survive. They were sure he'd want to hear the good news.

"Uzumaki-san is still unconsious," the nurse explained, "I'll take you to his room." She led them through the hallways to a different ward of the hospital. She opened a door to reveal an imaculate room, with Naruto's prone form lying in the bed.

"Why hasn't he woken up?" Kakashi asked as he walked over to the bed. No matter how powerful Naruto or Sakura had become, he still saw them as his students; he fretted over them like a worried father.

"Uzumaki-san seems to have suffered from an overload of chakra," the nurse explained, "His chakra pathways have been strained, and several organs have shown signs of backlash from expelling chakra too quickly. It may be days before he wakes up."

Kakashi frowned, and even Sai showed some concern for the blonde ninja, "Will he be alright?" the cycloptic jonin asked. The nurse nodded. She then excused herself to go tend to other patients. Kakashi and Sai lingered a bit longer, before leaving to give their mission report.

Unknown to both ninja; they didn't leave the hospital room as empty as they thought. Another ninja, concealed within the room, kept a constant vigil on the unconsious Naruto. As soon as the boy woke up, the ninja's master would be alearted.

* * *

Everything hurt. Such extreme pain was rare to Naruto, who was used to healing from most of his pains quickly. This feeling had only happened a few times before, when he had lost control of Kyuubi's chakra. His head hurt the most, Naruto noted as he slowly regained consiousness. Hell, even _thinking_ hurt right now. He really must have screwed up big time this time. Slowly, the blonde fought through his agony to rise into a sitting position, instantly regreating the movement as it sent spikes of white-hot pain through his back. Eyes screwed shut, Naruto groped around for the nurse call button. After finding and activating the device, he resigned himself to wait for someone to show up.

Tentatively, Naruto tried to open his eyes. After ajusting to the light, he looked around his hospital room; hoping for a glass of water or something to sooth his burning throat. Finding the room unhelpfully devoid of water, the boy groaned. Man, was he thirsty.

Luckily, the pain in his body seemed to slowly be going away. The ache in his head had yet to recede though. Naruto breifly wondered what was taking the nurse so long to show up, before deciding to see if he could walk yet. He swung his legs over to the side of his hospital bed, and attempted to put his weight. He quickly realized this was a bad idea, as his legs collapsed after shooting an aching pain up his spine. Falling back onto his bed, Naruto groaned again. At this rate, he wouldn't be released until tomorrow. If there's one thing that Uzumaki Naruto hated, it was being forced to stay in bed for too long. He liked sleep just as much as the next guy, but two days of it was a bit much...except perhaps for Shikamaru.

Thinking of Shikamaru led Naruto's thoughts to start drifting to his other friends. Wait...his friends. Like Sakura-chan. SAKURA-CHAN!

Naruto bolting upright once more (and ignoring the slight pain this caused) and scrambled for the nurse call button. Frantically the ninja pressed the button, trying to aleart a nurse by any means possible. He _needed_ to know what had happened to his teammate. It was his fault she was hurt in the first place, he was sure of it. He should have been faster, or stronger, or brought that bastard Sasuke home the first time around.

Naruto was snapped from his thoughts as the door to his room opened; revealing someone Naruto was absolutely sure wasn't a nurse. Hell, this guy looked more like a patient with the way he was bandaged up. The older man closed the door behind him and leveled Naruto with a cold stare.

"Who are you?" the blonde asked.

"My name is Danzo. I am the leader of the special ranks your current teammate, Sai, was a part of," the man, Danzo, replied. He noticed how confused Naruto seemed, noting how plainly the boy displayed his emotions. It was hard to believe that this bumbling boy had the potential to be the ultimate weapon he had been looking for. All he needed was a little molding...

"Do you know what happened to Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, pleading with his eyes for Danzo to tell him that his teammate, no, his sister was alright. Inwardly Danzo smirked.

"Haruno-san, unfortunatly, died from her injuries soon after arriving in Konoha."

Outwardly, Naruto showed no sign of having heard what Danzo had said. His posture remained the same, and his face still looked pleading. The only difference was in his eyes; the hopeful look had disapeared, only to be replaced with a sort of souless, self-loathing glaze. Slowly, the boy's hands balled up into fists, and tears started to run down his face. Naruto's features fell; outwardly expressing the hopeless feeling that was currently eating him up inside. He whispered, so soft it was barely audiable, "No."

Danzo observed the boy's sudden change in demeanor frome desperate to hopeless. The shinobi looked so vulnerable it was pathetic. All the boy needed now was a push in the right direction.

"Yes," Danzo said, his tone emotionless, "the wounds the Uchiha inflicted on her were quite serious. Even if the girl hadn't died, there was no guarentee she would have survived much longer once in hospital care. The traitor must have been merciless."

The older man's words served their purpose. Naruto reacted again, this time violently.

"SASUKE!" Naruto shouted, pounding his fists against the matress of his bed so hard, the metal frame creaked, "THAT BASTARD! I'LL KILL HIM!!" Once again the blonde attempted to rise to his feet, only to have his legs give out from beneath from him again. Naruto fell to the floor, screaming in frustration, "I'll kill him for what he did to her!! I'll-" he choked back another wave of sobs.

Danzo could not hold in the smirk that was rising to the surface. So far, everything was going perfectly. All that was left to do was make the blonde an offer he couldn't refuse.

"As you are, you have no hope of beating him." Naruto's fists clenched until his knuckles were white. He knew the old man was right, "But..." Naruto's head snapped up; his tearing eyes staring straight into the one visible eye of Danzo's, "I can help you. I can give you the power to bring the Uchiha to justice. I can make you unstoppable."

The blonde ninja didn't think about how he was quickly walking down the path of vengance. He didn't think about how an eerily similar series of circumstances led his ex-best friend to abandon him. He didn't even think about Ero-sennin's lesson that revenge leads a person to ruin. All that Uzumaki Naruto could think of was how he had been betrayed, and had lost one of his oldest, closest friends. He couldn't beat Sasuke before, he hadn't been strong enough. He was too weak, and Sakura had died because of it.

"I'll do it."

* * *

This is my first cliffhanger!! So, how am I doing so far? I promise the X-men bits will start showing up soon; some of you may have already noticed some parallels, yes? Write your epiphanies in a review by clicking that lovely button below.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello once again! It appears my muse hasn't died yet, so we might as well milk this for all it's worth. Some of you asked (more like pleaded against) if the actual X-men were going to appear in the story. The answer: no. There will be no wormholes for them to magically fall through, and pop out in Konoha. They're not going to go explore the space and find a planet full of ninjas. No one has a long-lost relative that lives in a hidden village. There will be no X-men in this story.

_But,_ I will be borrowing liberally from their ideas. You'll see more of that in the chapter below. Some people are going to discover abilities they didn't even know they had, and some familiar faces aren't going to be as familiar as you thought.

On that note, why don't we continue with the story?

* * *

Two ninjas came in to take Naruto from his hospital room. He didn't know who they were; they were wearing masks. He didn't particularly care who they were either. Naruto's mind was focused on his new goal: Kill Uchiha Sasuke. If some old guy comes and says that he can make him stronger, Naruto was going to jump at the opportunity.

The two ninja lifted Naruto from where he sat on the ground, picking him up with relative ease and draping his arms over their shoulders. Danzo followed along after them, out of the room and into the hallway. There were no nurses walking anywhere, no doctors either. For all Naruto knew, he was the only one in the whole hospital. There were more masked ninjas standing by the doors to the main hospital, and two more flanking the stairs.

Naruto was taken up the stairs, toward the roof of the building. The place held bad memories for the blonde; this is where he first fought Sasuke. That battle ended in a draw. The next one wouldn't.

The odd procession jumped from the hospital to the building next to it. Danzo was surprisingly agile, despite his crippled appearance. He led his operatives through the village, toward the outer wall. Some of the neighborhoods near the wall were empty. Past attacks on the village cut down the civilian population, and there was no one living there anymore.

The group touched down on the empty street, and one of the ninja approached Naruto.

"Uzumaki-san," the ninja said, their voice muffled by their mask, "from this point on we ask that you wear a blindfold." Naruto nodded, and a black cloth was dropped over his eyes. It was a surreal feeling of being carried to some unknown location.

It took what felt like an hour for the group to stop moving, and Naruto suspected that they had doubled back a few times in order to make sure he had no way of knowing where he was. Inwardly he scowled. All the secrecy wasn't necessary; Naruto had already agreed to go along with this plan, and he didn't go back on his word.

When the blindfold was removed from his eyes, Naruto saw they were underground somewhere. There were walkways going across for hundreds of yards above him, but the area seemed eerily quiet. The two ninja lowered Naruto so that his feet could touch the ground, and the young ninja found that he could stand on his own.

The blonde was led down the poorly lit hallways, past dozens of rooms and even more masked ninjas. No one said a word, and everyone they passed paid them no mind. The silence was beginning to unnerve the young ninja.

As they reached the end of the hallway, Danzo opened a large pair of double doors. The room inside was not what Naruto expected. He was sure that he had signed up for some sort of rigorous training, and the place he was being led to was just a huge, secluded dojo or something.

He was now realizing how wrong he was.

Behind the doors was what at first appeared to be a laboratory. There were numerous computer monitors displaying information about some unknown project. The middle of the room had a large tank of water in it, and next to that there was another tank that held something metallic. Naruto could not understand how any of these things would make him stronger. That's when he noticed the table against the back wall.

Were those _needles?_

Naruto turned to Danzo, now slightly frightened as well as confused, "What's going on?"

"This is the first step," Danzo explained, "Before we make you unstoppable, we're going to make you unbreakable."

Naruto's eyes widened, "I thought you were just going to train me-"

"You will be trained," Danzo said, cutting him off, "but all the ninja training in the world will do you no good if the opponent gets the upper hand. I'm going to give you bones that don't break, and weapons that can't be used against you."

That didn't sound too bad, Naruto thought, but he still didn't know what was going to become of him.

"How are you going to do that?" Naruto asked, slightly less scared then he first was. Danzo motioned for him to follow, and the two walked towards the center of the room.

Danzo faced the tank with the metallic substance inside, his face showing a hint of pride. With his good hand, the man motioned towards the contents of the tank, "This is adamantium," he explained, "it is the strongest metal known to man. Very little exists on earth, and it is almost impossible to create. The substance will only remain in liquefied form for eight minutes before it becomes impossible to shape."

The older man turned to face Naruto, who made no efforts to hide the awe on his face, "What we are planning on doing is bonding this unbreakable metal to your skeleton. You're bones will become impossible to fracture. In addition, you will be equipped with six...claws, if you will. You will have at your disposal an unbreakable weapon that can never be turned against you."

Thousands of possibilities ran through Naruto's head. If he had metal bones, then nothing would keep him down for long! He could even use his Rasen-Shuriken without worrying about breaking his hand! The idea of beating Sasuke didn't seem so hard anymore. He didn't know how to feel about having claws though. Being able to cut through anything seemed really handy, although-

"Uzumaki-san," Danzo interrupted, "time is of the essence with the procedure. We need to begin immediately."

Naruto nodded hesitantly, "Um, is this going to hurt?"

"Very much so," Naruto gulped, "But I assure you that this is completely safe. Don't you want revenge for what that traitor did to your friend?"

'Sakura-chan...' That's right. This was for Sakrua-chan. After this, Naruto would be able to make Sasuke pay for what he did to her. With steeled resolve, the blonde banished any second thoughts he had left.

"I'm ready."

* * *

Naruto soon found himself strapped to a platform above the tank of water. The multiple needles hovering above him were a little unnerving, but he was determined to see this through. All he had to do now was just wait for it all to start.

A few feet away, multiple masked ninjas were preparing the multiple machines for the operation. One turned away from their monitor and approached Danzo, who was overseeing the procedure.

"Danzo-sama," the ninja began, "Everything is ready to begin, but I must tell you that the odds of the subject surviving this operation are very slim." Danzo waved off the nin's concerns.

"The demon's chakra will heal all of the wounds. The Kyuubi will not let its host die. Begin the operation as soon as possible."

The ninja bowed their head, "Yes sir."

After returning to their station, the ninja began to slowly lower Naruto's platform into the tank below him.

Naruto could feel the water rising to cover his body. The mask on his face allowed him to breathe normally, but it was still difficult to not panic after being submerged. Looking up, Naruto could see the needles begin to descend into the tank. Taking a deep breath, Naruto closed his eyes and prepared himself for the pain he knew was coming.

There was a slight pricking on various parts of Naruto's body, as the needles entered his skin. This was followed by a jarring pain as the needles dug into his bones. Naruto took a deep breath.

'That wasn't so bad...' he thought.

What came next was agony. A blinding pain that felt like his body was trying to rip its self apart. White-hot metal was literally being pumped into his body, and bonded with his bones. The heat was unbearable, and the surface of Naruto's skin began turning red. Faintly, Naruto was aware of someone screaming, but was unsure if it was him making the noise.

While the blonde writhed in the slowly boiling water, the masked ninjas frantically maintained the delicate systems required to keep the metal moving smoothly. One ninja turned back to face their superior.

"Danzo-sama," the ninja began, a hint of worry in their voice, "the Kyuubi's chakra has yet to manifest its self, and the boy's vitals are dropping quickly. We must abort the operation soon or-"

"No," Danzo said, "the Kyuubi will not let his host die. Obviously the boy isn't in serious enough condition for the Kyuubi to intervene. We will continue with the operation."

The ninja nodded, "Yes Danzo-sama."

The water Naruto was lying in had begun to heat up as soon as the molten metal began moving. Now, it was practically vaporizing. Naruto screamed and fought against the restraints that kept him strapped to the platform below him.

Suddenly, the water temperature spiked upwards drastically. A malevolent red aura began to seep from the now visible seal on Naruto's stomach. Danzo smiled; clearly the demon had come to the boy's rescue.

Unfortunately, Danzo's knowledge of the seal wasn't as thorough as he thought. He was right about one thing; the Kyuubi could choose to give his host chakra at will. Any healing that occurred though, was not the demon's doing. Whenever Naruto's wounds became so severe they threatened his life, one of the seal's fail-safes activated. The seal would drain chakra off from the Kyuubi, and convert it into chakra that Naruto's body would use to activate cell-regeneration.

Having white-hot metal injected inside of his body should have killed Naruto after only a few minutes. The only thing keeping him alive now was a steady stream of Kyuubi's chakra, and a lot of it. This did not go unnoticed by the demon. Deep within Naruto's subconscious, the beast was raging against its cage.

The malicious chakra was being siphoned off the Kyuubi faster than it could regenerate it. In desperation, the demon attempted once again to break free from its prison.

"**I will have freedom!" **the bijuu roared as it's strength began to fade, **"I will not disappear!"**

In a last-ditch effort to break free, the Kyuubi forced it's very being into the seal. It desperately clawed through the layers of protection, attempting to rip the seal to shreds. This only added to the pain Naruto felt, as the seal on his stomach began to burn into his flesh. The chakra needed to heal this wound stripped Kyuubi of the very power it needed to sustain its form. With one last demonic roar that was echoed by Naruto's own screams, the bijuu was consumed by it's host.

The backlash wreaked havoc on Naruto's brain. New instincts clashed with old ones, and previously formed lobes of the brain mutated to accommodate heightened senses. Alien thoughts and memories became confused with more familiar ones. Naruto's sense of self, his very identity, became lost in the mix his and Kyuubi's beings. The blonde couldn't cope, and his conscious mind shut down.

At that moment, the needles removed themselves from the ninja's body. The restraints, which had been strained to their limits, finally broke free.

From the darkest corners of Naruto's shattered mind, his new instincts kicked in.

And all hell broke loose.

* * *

Dun, dun, DUN!! Who else (besides most of you) saw that coming, eh? It seems that Danzo meddled with something he ought not to have meddled with. And you'll get to see how he deals with it...NEXT CHAPTER!!

Feel free to speculate on his fate in your reviews. Yes, I'm expecting one from everyone. This means you. Click the button.


	3. Chapter 3

Gah, this is hard. I tried to make this chapter a bit longer, but I don't know if my brain can pop out this much every other day... I'll put this up to you guys. Longer chapters, but fewer updates? or shorter chapters with more frequent updates? Review and tell me!

And for those who are on the edge of their seats for Dazo to die, your wait is over! I hope his demise is satisfying enough for you guys. Read on!

* * *

A very confused, and a very angry, former jinchuuriki charged at the group behind the monitors. The ninjas immediately rushed forward to take control of the situation. The first ninja appeared behind Naruto in a flash, and dug a kunai into his back.

Naruto roared in pain, and reflexively released his 'hidden weapon'. Three blades shot forth from each of his hands. Naruto whipped his hand towards his offender, and promptly cut the ninja in half. The adamantium claws cut through the flesh like a hot knife through butter. The next ninja to approach met a similar fate.

Undaunted by the loss of two of their comrades, the rest of the ninja proceeded with their attacks. Kunai were thrown from all angles; all but a few hitting their intended targets. The knives didn't seem to affect the rampaging blonde, as another ninja was beheaded. One nin unsheathed his katana, and swung at Naruto's arm as he stabbed another ninja through the chest. The sword would have cut straight through the limb, if it were not for Naruto's newly enhanced bones.

The katana's blade stopped mid strike, and cracks began to splinter through the metal. As soon as the sword was retracted from the boy's arm, something unexpected happened. As the ninjas watched, the split muscles knitted themselves back together, and then were quickly covered by skin. The only evidence there had been a wound in the first place was the blood that stained the area.

A trio of claws shot out and killed the swordsman before he could launch another attack.

Realizing that conventional weapons would not work, the ninja leaped back and began using their jutsu. Fireballs were spit, lightning shot forth, and a dragon of water rose from the ground and knocked the blonde off his feet. The ninja paused, waiting to see if their opponent was subdued.

The ninja tensed as Naruto rose to his feet. The burns on his body were already healing, and they didn't seem to have done anything more than anger the blonde ninja more. Blood-red eyes glared at the masked men and women in front of him, before focusing on the other side of the room. There, standing calmly as his underlings were slaughtered, was Danzo. Some primal instinct drove Naruto forward, as he launched himself over the row of ninja and towards their leader.

Before the ninja could make any attempt to save their superior, Danzo had already moved into action. With his one good hand, he lifted the bandages over his eye to reveal something that was very difficult for the older man to obtain. The three-tomes of a mature sharingan spun in Danzo's eye, and the world seemed to slow down.

All of Naruto's movements were analyzed and copied in an instant. In another instant, Danzo came to the starling revelation that there was no method or discipline behind the boy's movements; he was lashing out in an animalistic fashion that wouldn't be effective if it wasn't for the sheer brute force he was putting into it. It was less then a second after that that Danzo began his counter attack.

Too bad it took less than that for the enraged blonde to reach him. His extended adamantium claws dug into the man's side, ripping though his body with frightening ease. The arc of Naruto's swing caused his claws to emerge from Danzo's flesh midway through his abdomen.

Despite being crippled, the older ninja quickly utilized as much chakra as he could afford into placing Naruto into an elaborate genjutsu.

Darkness covered the room as Naruto's sight was cut off. Momentarily disoriented the blonde stumbled back. He whipped his head back and forth, desperately searching for the enemy he knew was there only moments ago. Blindly, Naruto slashed his claws at the darkness, attempting to hit something, _anything. _

There was a rustle to his left. Instantly his head snapped toward the noise, and his nostrils flared as the sent of sweat and blood assaulted his senses. Naruto knew, there was someone there. He lunged forward, and his claws met the resistance of a human body.

Then there was another one. And another. And another. Naruto could smell them, hear them. They were coming towards him. They were going to hurt him. They were hunting him.

Naruto would not accept that. He would not be hunted! They were his _prey._ He would kill them!

Danzo watched in morbid fascination as the blinded teenager tore his finest shinobi to shreds. He could feel his strength waning; several of his vital organs had been hit in that attack. He would survive if he could make it to the infirmary ward on the floor above. First, he would have to make it up there. His genjutsu would only hold up as long as his chakra could feed it, and it seemed that the only reason Naruto hadn't attacked him was because he didn't pose an immediate threat. That would change as soon as the pawns had been dealt with.

With as much strength as he could muster, Danzo lurched out of the room. He regretted immediately having cleared this floor. The operation was supposed to be the of the utmost secrecy; the fewer of his operatives that new, the better. The whole ROOT base was a secret, with many secrets hidden inside. Danzo's agents were trained to never question orders, or deviate from what they were told.

No help would come for him until he reached the top of the stairs. All that he had to do was make it down the unbearably long hallway.

With each step it became harder for Danzo to breathe. He was loosing blood fast, but his years of ninja training prevented him from panicking. He could hear fighting sill going on in the room behind him. There were screams, and the sound of metal hitting metal. The old ninja kept his composure. Any emotion now would cause him to act rashly. Any frantic movement would only cause him to bleed more. Danzo remained calm, and focused.

He could feel his heart straining to beat as his blood flowed away. He could feel a burning in his chest that could only mean his digestive acid had finally begun leaking from the gash in his stomach. This significantly lowered the time Danzo had left, so the older man began to quicken his pace. All he could hear in the hall was his muted footsteps and harsh breaths.

Wait...

Danzo's eyes widened slightly, 'Where is the screaming?' The ninja turned around.

Standing in the partially open doorway of the laboratory, surrounded by dismembered bodies, was what used to be Uzumaki Naruto. The boy wasn't too terribly tall, but now seemed to tower imposingly. He was covered in blood; most of which probably wasn't his own. There were various weapons lodged in his body still, but Danzo watched as the boy ripped a kunai out of his shoulder, the wound closing almost instantly. The metal blades that extended from the back of his hands dripped with gore, and they flashed menacingly where the light hit them. The previously bright blonde hair was now a malicious orange color, and hung limply into Naruto's face.

Danzo had created a monster. A monster, who's demonic eyes were looking _straight at him_.

No, Danzo corrected himself. _Through _him. The genjutsu was still in effect, the boy couldn't see him. But he knew he was there. Without a shadow of a doubt, Uzumaki Naruto was aware of the dying man in the hallway.

Naruto stepped forward, towards the sound of strangled breathes and a frantic heartbeat. He could smell the man's blood, his sweat, and something else he hadn't smelt on any of the others he fought. Danzo smelt of fear.

With a loud roar, Naruto lunged towards Danzo's prone form. The man was paralyzed, terrified of the monster that would serve as his executioner. He didn't even try to run.

It was over all too quickly.

Light suddenly flooded into Naruto's eyes, and once again he could see his surroundings. At his feet was a dead man; the one who had been the leader. But it wasn't over, Naruto could smell others. There were more people in this compound.

More prey to kill.

* * *

The base was in flames. Some one's katon had accidentally caught the floor alight, and the ninja who were still alive were far too busy to put it out. Everyone was fighting for their lives.

Naruto was on a rampage. Every foe that approached him met a swift and bloody end. He was hit with a multitude of weapons, but none stalled his movements. Jutsu that should have killed a normal man only did temporary damage. Genjutsu after genjutsu were used, but none could prevent Naruto from attacking. It was obvious that the ninja were fighting a losing battle.

But these were ROOT ninja. The had no emotions, and would never stop attacking. This conditioning would be their downfall.

It was the bloodiest massacre since the fall of the Uchiha clan. Too bad there would be no survivors. Hundreds of people would disappear, and no one would know for many days.

Naruto slashed through the last of his opposition, leaving him alone inside the building. He had fought through many floors, searching for a way to freedom. Now that the threats to his safety had been eliminated, the blonde began to calm down. His previously blood-red eyes faded to blue. Whatever rage possessed him when he attacked, was now slowly ebbing away.

What was left was a very confused, and slightly scared teenaged boy.

Instinctually, Naruto knew he had to get to safety. He didn't know where he was, or how he got here. He couldn't remember anything except an awful pain, and then a fight for his life. There were people lying dead everywhere, but Naruto didn't know who they were. He didn't know who _he_ was. He just knew he had to get out of this...wherever he was.

He checked every door, but none led to an exit. Oh well, he'd just make his own.

Metal claws slashed through stone walls with little resistance. For the first time he could remember, Naruto smelled fresh air. It smelled like freedom. He stepped through the hole he had created, and observed his surroundings. He seemed to be on top of some sort of mountain, the building he had been before was built into the rock face, and probably extended many stories down into the stone. Off the ledge before him stretched more buildings. Hundreds of dwellings surrounded his current position, bombarding his senses with thousands of smells of daily life. Though there were no threats he could see, Naruto didn't want to go near this settling.

Behind him, trees monopolized the landscape. There were no signs that humans had been in that forest recently, so Naruto headed there. He needed someplace to hide for the moment.

* * *

At Konoha General Hospital, the hourly rounds led one nurse to check on the patient Uzumaki Naruto. The patient had been unconscious for several hours, but it was best to just check and make sure everyone was alright.

This particular nurse hadn't been having a good day so far. First, she burned her hand on the stove this morning. Then she spilled coffee on her scrubs during break. But the worst thing by far was when she was shooed from her station by a masked ninja. The _nerve_ of those men, clearing an entire ward of employees and not telling a soul why! She didn't care what orders they were under; it was dangerous to deprive patients from medical care for any amount of time.

Luckily everyone had been allowed back in a timely manner, and so far nothing seemed amiss. That is, until Naruto's door was opened to reveal a hospital room that was disturbingly _not occupied._

The nurse turned on her heal and ran to tell her superior: there was a patient missing.

* * *

I was apparent to Tsunade that her headache wasn't going away any time soon. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do about it now. A fire had broken out on top of the Hokage mountain, and many of the buildings near there were at risk of catching flame. Also, she had just been informed that Uzumaki Naruto was missing from the hospital.

Tsunade sighed, and leveled her gaze on the team of five in front of her. Standing at attention was Naruto's active teammates, Hatake Kakashi and the mysterious Sai. Accompanying them was team 8; Abarame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba and his dog Akamaru, and Hyuuga Hinata.

"As you know, I've summoned you all here to search for Uzumaki Naruto," Tsunade began, "Some time within the last two hours, he went missing from his hospital room. The brat probably woke up and decided to sneak out to Ichiraku's, but there's always a chance something more serious has happened."

"You two," the Hokage said, pointing towards Sai and Kakashi, "are on his team, and thus know his habits. If the brat did sneak out, you can most likely guess where he is. Just incase he isn't here, you three," she pointed towards team 8, "will use your tracking abilities to search for him. When you find him, drag him in here by his hair if you have to. Dismissed."

The five shinobi exited the Hokage's office, and headed towards the hospital to begin their search. The only female of the group, Hinata, was exceptionally worried about the blonde boy.

"Kakashi-san," she said, her voice quiet, "do you think Naruto-kun's okay?"

Kakashi's only visible eye creased; the only sign he was smiling. It was nice to know his student had someone who cared about him like Hinata did, even if the blonde hadn't realized it yet, "I'm sure of it. Naruto's never liked hospitals; he probably snuck out the minute he was conscious."

Hinata smiled a little, 'That sounds like something he would do.'

The group made their way to Naruto's previous hospital room, where Kiba and Akamaru would search for his sent trail. After getting a good whiff of the blonde's sent, the group followed it out of the room, into the hallway and, surprisingly, onto the roof. Kiba stopped the procession here.

"There's something odd," he said, "When we were in Naruto's room, I noticed there were a few unfamiliar scents. I didn't think it was weird or anything 'cause it might have been a nurse or a doctor. The scents were in the hallway too, but I didn't think it was a big deal. But the thing is, those scents are up here too."

Hinata looked at her teammate confusedly, "Why would a doctor be on the roof?"

"Unless it wasn't a doctor," Kakashi said, rubbing his chin contemplatively, "From Kiba's description it appears that a group of people either chased after Naruto when he tried to escape, or they led him up here." They cycloptic jounin turned back to the Inuzuka, "Does the trail continue?"

Kiba nodded, "I can smell Naruto, faintly. He probably jumped onto another roof or something." The group leapt from the Hospital roof, following the path Naruto took not too long ago. They were taken first to the abandoned neighborhoods around the wall, and then on a wild goose chase through the village. The trail winded through the village; leading the five through back alleys and empty streets.

"Where could Naruto-san have been going?" Sai questioned.

"It's beginning to look more and more like he was taken," Kakashi said, a hint of worry working its way into his voice, "His abductors must have doubled back multiple times to make it difficult to be followed."

The trail eventually led the group up the winding trail to the top of the Hokage mountain. There they saw dozens of ninja attempting to get a wild fire under control. While the fire didn't seem to be spreading, smoke was still erupting in a continuous stream from a large hole in the mountain side. Hinata became even more concerned.

"You don't think Naruto-kun is somehow involved with the fires?" she said, her worried eyes watching a group of nin launching suiton at the flames. Sai was looking concerned as well, which was odd for the boy. Kakashi noticed this immediately.

"Sai, do you know anything about this?"

Sai's face regained it's emotionless state, "I...cannot say."

Kakashi's eye narrowed, "It's about ROOT, isn't it." Sai would not reply. With a sigh, the jounin turned to Kiba, "Where does the trail lead from here?""That's the thing," the Inuzuka said, "it doesn't. Naruto's trail stops here, before the smell of smoke covers everything up." Kakashi nodded, and turned to the stoic Abarame.

"Shino, have your bugs search the surrounding area."

Without a word, Shino lifted his arms from his sides. A swarm of thousands of black insects shot forth from booth sleeves, and flew off. The team waited for a few moments, before the swarm returned to Shino's body. A lone bug landed on the boy's finger.

"There is no sign of him nearby, but there is one unknown male in the woods, directly west of our position."

"Hinata," Kakashi said, "If you would." He motioned towards the woods. The girl nodded, before activating her clan's bloodline.

"Byakugan." Instantly, Hinata's field of vision expanded. The girl focus on the wooded area just beyond the flames. She saw through the trees, searching for her long time crush.

There, just on the edge of her vision, was a human figure. Hinata honed in on it's position, focusing on the unique chakra signature of the person.

"I've found him!" Hinata cried, "Naruto-kun's there, in the woods. Only there's something...different about him."

This news put all the ninja on edge. Without further ado, the five quickly sprinted into the forest to find their friend and comrade.

* * *

So for those who were wating, there she is! Hinata's in the story now. How is Naruto going to react when they arrive, mmmmm? You'll see...next chapter!

If you have a thought and you want me to hear it, please call 1-800-CLICK-THE-REVIEW-BUTTON.


	4. Chapter 4

I want to seriously appoligize for the amount of time it took me to update this story, but I want to point out it wasn't my fault! My lovely computer (whom I've named Karin) got a virus a few days ago, and made it pretty impossible for me to work on anything. So I handed her over to the good people at Staples, who took about four days to fix it. I just got it back today, and tried to wrap up this chapter so I'd have something to update. Seriously, I'm sorry!

Quite a few of you wanted Naruto to dissapear for a few years, living under an assumed name. The problem with that is that 1) it's my story and I say no, 2) It's rather difficult for a ninja to dissapear to a different country, especially a ninja like Naruto. Not only does he have the Akatsuki after him, but he has a striking resemblance to his father. If he's not found and overwhelmed by a crap-load of S-ranked ninja, then he'll be killed off by a bunch of foreign ninjas grudge.

* * *

It was unusually silent in the forest. The birds and smaller animals usually found milling about the trees were absent. Whether it was the fire that had started uncomfortably close to the tree line, or the sudden intruder that entered their home, the creatures of the forest weren't sticking around.

Several miles from all human activity, a teenaged boy was crouched behind a large oak tree. His usually bright blonde hair was matted down, and stained with blood. He was clad in only a pair of shorts, that appeared to have originally been white. Like the rest of him, they were splattered with blood and dirt from his run through the forest.

This was Uzumaki Naruto, not that he knew it. He didn't know a lot of things at the moment, and was desperately trying to figure out why.

'What's going on?' Naruto asked himself, 'Who where those people?' Images of masked ninja flashed through his mind. He had no regret for killing those people; they were going to hurt him. _Why _they were going to hurt him though, he had no idea. He remembered first there was pain. So much pain...

He had been tied up, that much he do. Those people had been..._doing_ something to him. He couldn't remember what, but it had to have something to do with the needles that had been there. Were they doing some sort of surgery on him?

"Who where they?" Naruto asked, frustrated by his lack of knowledge. He ran his hand nervously through his hair, but recoiled when he felt the blood there. His blue eyes stared at his hand, as he slowly willed the metal claws in his arm to come out.

"Who am I?" the questioned was barely audible, even to Naruto's newly enhanced hearing. There was a sudden, slightly louder, noise he did hear. There was a rustling in the distance, too soft to be from an animal. It couldn't have been the wind, as it was blowing the other direction.

No, whatever this noise was, it was growing louder. Coming closer, directly towards him. He could smell them now; people. Five of them, and was that a- Naruto paused to sniff the air- a dog? Where they more of those masked people? Had they found him?

Realizing that there was little time before the group arrived, Naruto jumped up into the tree he had been sitting against. If they were more masked people, he wouldn't run. He'd get rid of them, just like the last time.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"He's there, in the tree," Hinata said while she lead the group, byakugan active, "There's something different about his chakra. It doesn't seem...right, somehow."

"Guys, stop!" Kiba shouted. The group came to a halt, "Up ahead I smell blood, and a lot of it."

"Naruto-kun's not hurt, is he?" Hinata asked. Kiba shook his head.

"It doesn't all belong to the same person, and it doesn't smell like Naruto's either."

"Did Naruto get in a fight?" Sai asked, thinking back to the burning ROOT base they saw earlier.

"We won't know until we find him," Kakashi said as he began moving once again.

"Kakashi-san," the usually quiet Shino said, stopping Kakashi in his tracks, "my kikaichu are very aggravated at the moment. They sense something very dangerous and unusual up ahead. Whatever has happened to Naruto, it is not a good thing."

The mood turned very somber, but the group continued on. None of them were willing to leave their friend behind. The five ninja and nin-dog leapt though the trees, and finally arrived at the tree where Naruto was hiding.

"Oi, Naruto," Kakashi shouted, "Come down-" He was cut off as out from the tree top shot the boy they had been searching for. It wasn't a happy reunion unfortunately.

Naruto landed in a crouched position, ready to fight for his life. His claws were out, but the berserker mentality he had before wasn't present. He had calmed down while he ran through the forest, but the blonde was ready to defend himself no matter what.

He was a bit confused by these people though. None of them were masked like the people before, except for the one with the silver hair. They didn't seem like they were going to attack either. They looked...shocked? Confused?

Whatever they felt, Naruto was going to make sure they didn't hurt him. With a growl, Naruto launched himself at the closest person; the pale one with the blank face.

"Leave me alone!" He shouted, as he slashed his claws. Unlike before, these ninja weren't confined to the small spaces of the building he was in. The ninja dodged backwards, and drew his short sword in a defensive manner.

"Naruto!" Kiba shouted, "What are you doing!?" the Inuzuka was horribly confused. His friend looked like some sort of wild animal. He was clad in only a pair of dirty shorts, and was covered in what looked like blood. While that would explain the smell from before, it didn't explain _why_ Naruto was covered in blood.

More importantly, where those knives coming from his _hands_? Something was definitely wrong here.

"Go away!" Naruto shouted, turning this time to Kiba. The boy quickly took out a kunai to block the oncoming strike, and was shocked to see it being cut right through. Kiba jumped back out of Naruto's range, Akamaru moving protectively in front of his partner.

"Naruto, it's us." Kakashi tried to calm the enraged teen, "we're your friends. We're not going to hurt you."

Naruto was confused. These people weren't attacking him. And what was that name they kept saying? Were they talking about him? Was he Naruto?

"NO!" Naruto shouted, "It's a trick! I won't go back there!" He crouched down and prepared to strike again at Kakashi. He lunged forward and swung at the jounin, but was once again avoided. The blonde continued with his attack, striking at any place he could.

Kakashi dodged the attacks as best as he could. He kept his distance from his enraged student, but couldn't prevent himself from being grazed by the metal claws. He didn't know how much longer he could evade the attacks before he would be forced to fight back. Luckily, his teammates weren't just lounging around.

Thousands of small black insects swarmed from Shino's coat, and began to cling to Naruto's legs. The bugs did what they did best: they began to eat his chakra.

Naruto stopped his attack on Kakashi to deal with the swarm. He swatted at the bugs to no avail, there were just to many of them. More began to cling to his arms and torso, eating away at his chakra reserves.

"I apologize, Naruto," Shino said in his ever present monotone, "but clearly something is not right."

Naruto growled in frustration as he felt his energy begin to drain away. His movements were becoming sluggish, and it was difficult to keep from falling into the welcoming arms of unconsciousness. With one last cry in resistance, Naruto collapsed to the ground. Hesitantly, the group approached their fallen friend.

"Shino," Kakashi said, "Very good work. You can recall your bugs now."

Shino shook his head, "It appears Naruto is quickly regaining his chakra. If I recall my kikaichu now, he will regain consiouness in a few minutes."

"Why did he attack us?" Hinata said quietly, her wide eyes staring at Naruto with concern. She'd never seen him like this. Naruto was so kind, and cheerful, and devoted to his friends. For him to attack them; something must be seriously wrong.

"I don't know," Kakashi sighed, "we better take him back to the village." Kiba walked tentatively walked forward, and reached to pick up his friend.

"He's a lot heavier than I remember," Kiba grunted as he threw Naruto over his shoulder. Moving slightly slower than before, the group began their trek back to the village.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Back in Tsunade's office, a messenger had just arrived to give the final report about the fire. The chunin stood at attention in front of the Hokage, who did not seem pleased.

"The fire seemed to have originated from within a building built deep within the Hokage mountain," the chunin said, "It consumed almost the entire building, save for a few rooms that appeared to have been reinforced."

"Is there any evidence as to who was in the base?" Tsunade asked the nervous young ninja in front of her. The man shook his head.

"A thorough investigation has not been done yet, but there were the remains of almost a hundred and fifty people inside the building. Their bodies were heavily scorched. It doesn't seem like anyone escaped."

Tsunade shook her head, "Pity to lose so many to a fire..." The chunin shook his head.

"It doesn't appear that any of the people died because of the fire," there was a slight hesitance in his voice, "but rather the fire burned them after they were already dead. Several of the victims had limbs severed, and there's blood stains all over the place. We even found a corpse in a reinforced room who had been _cut in half." _

This was troubling news. Not only was there a secret base hidden within her village, but some person or some people had killed everyone within it then set the whole thing ablaze. Tsunade would have to do a headcount of all ninja, and have some of her medi-ninja try and identify the bodies.

This on top of the headache she already had because of the Konoha's number one most unpredictable knucklehead ninja. With a wave of her hand, Tsunade dismissed the chunin with orders to return when he had more information.

Almost as soon as the man was out the door, a very agitated Kakashi entered the room. "Tsunade-sama, we found Naruto." He instantly had the Hokage's attention, "He's at the hospital again, but you need to look at him. Something serious happened to him."

Tsunade was on her feet and walking as soon as the words left his mouth. The two quickly made their way to the hospital, Kakashi briefing the older woman along the way.

"We found him in the woods behind the mountain, hiding in a tree. He didn't seem to remember us, and attacked us when we first arrived. He was covered in blood, and there were knives coming out of his hands. Someone did something to him, Tsunade-sama."

"You said he was covered in blood," Tsunade said, a since of foreboding building in her chest, "Was he injured?" Kakashi shook his head.

"According to Kiba, the blood wasn't his." The bottom fell out of Tsunade's stomach. The rest of the trip to Naruto's hospital room was in silence.

Inside the room were three very concerned ninjas, and one large dog. Kiba was leaning against the wall opposite from the bed, Akamaru at his feet. Shino was standing stoically in the corner, and Hinata was perched in a chair next to the bed, watching the object of her affections. The blonde in question was in the same condition they had found in him, the blood from his skin staining the sheets he was lying on. Despite being kept unconscious by the bugs on his chest, the boy was strapped to his bed.

Tsunade made a be-line to Naruto's prone form, healing chakra already forming in her hand. She placed her glowing hand on his forehead, and began to scan for injuries.

"Is Naruto-kun alright, Tsunade-sama?" Hinata asked, as she and her teammates gathered around the medic-nin. A deep frown etched itself on the woman's face.

"Naruto's amnesia has not been caused by any sort of trauma to the head. There's some sort of deformation that happened to his brain, but it doesn't seem to be effecting his ability to function. This is most likely the reason for his memory loss," Tsunade withdrew her hand with a grim look on her face, "but there's a more serious issue here." The assembled ninja didn't dare breathe as they waited for their leader to reveal what was wrong with Naruto.

"His skull is made of metal."

* * *

I know this is kind of a crappy cliff hanger, but like I said, I just wanted to have something to upload after the whole virus thing.

Don't forget to review!


	5. Chapter 5

I'm really sorry for the delay in this update. After getting my computer fixed, I was busy moving into my new house, and then my muse died, and and and and-

The point is, I'm updating now. Sorry it took so long, but I hope it was worth the wait!

* * *

"What do you mean _metal_!?"

Lips pursing, Tsunade gave Kiba a pointed look, "I mean exactly what I said. Naruto's skull is made of entirly of metal. Somehow, the living bone has been replaced with a metal substitute." the woman's glowing hand moved from Naruto's head and began hovering downward along his chest. All the while Tsunade was scanning Naruto, her frown deepened, "It seems that the rest of his skeleton has been replaced as well. Though, how the metal allows of the production of marrow doesn't-" Tsunade paused, "Kakashi, you said something about knives?"

Kakashi nodded, still shocked from the news of Naruto's new metal bones, "When he attacked us, there were three knives coming out of the back of his hands. They dissappeared once he fell unconsious."

Tsunade picked up Naruto's arm, and began examining the area around his knuckles. With one hand, she channeled a small amount of chakra. The medic tapped Naruto's wrist, causing his arm to tense. Almost instantaneously, three wicked-looking metal blades unsheathed themselves from within Naruto's arm.

_SNIKT_

Hinata gasped. She had the claws before, but the sight of the blades erupting from Naruto's skin was slightly nauseating. Her dog-like teammate looked on in awe.

"How do they do that?"

Tsunade released her hold Naruto's arm, and the three blades returned below his skin. With morbid fascination, she looked on as the cuts left on Naruto's hand healed as if they'd never been. This troubled the medic, 'Is Kyuubi healing him?'

"Hinata," the Hokage began, "Did you notice anything different about Naruto's chakra while you were fighting him?"

"Y-yes," the girl stuttered, "I couldn't put my finger on it, but somehow Naruto's chakra was different from before. It's almost like...he was a different person."

"Was there anything strange about it specifically? Was it flowing oddly, or a different color?" Hinata shook her head. This troubled Tsunade even more. If Kyuubi hadn't been responsible for Naruto's hands healing after his fight with the search team, what had? The woman moved her glowing hand over Naruto's stomach, where his seal was.

Or, more specifically, where it should have been.

Thoughout Tsunade's long life, she had faced odds that seemed practically impossible, seen loved ones die, and faced the threat of death. But none of those things scared her as much as the discovery she just made.

The seal that held the dreaded nine-tailed fox demon prisoner was gone. Without trace, the last work of the Yondaime Hokage had dissapeared.

"Hinata, Kiba, Shino, get out."

It took a moment for her words to register in the brains of the three ninja. Indignantly, Kiba began to protest.

"Tsunade-sama-"

"GET OUT!"

Without further words of protest, the three chunin rushed out of the hospital room and slamed the door behind them. Tsunade then proceeded to activate a privacy jutsu to prevent evesdroppers.

"Hokage-sama, what's going on?" Kakashi asked, his voiced laced with worry about his student. Sai, who had remained silent so far, also looked concerned.

"The seal is gone," her voice was frantic, and her words stunned both men. Sai's usually emotionless face was blatenly shocked, and Kakashi was on the verge of panic.

"What!?"

"The seal, the seal!" Tsunade shouted as she began scanning Naruto again, hoping beyond hope she had just been mistaken, "It's not there! It hasn't been blocked, it hasn't been tampered with, and it hasn't been broken. _IT'S DISAPPEARED."_ Her movements jerked to a halt, and the aged woman suddenly rounded on Sai, "You knew something about this, didn't you!?"

Sai was too stunned to respond. His mouth opened slightly as if he was going to say something, but no words came out.

"That bastard Danzo and his "secret" ROOT army; he's been wanting to get his hands on Naruto for years! Now suddenly Naruto goes missing from the hospital and when we get him back he's got a metal skeleton _and the damn seal is gone!_"

Sai finally seemed to regain the ability to speak, "I don't know anything about this."

Tsunade stared deep into Sai's eyes, searching for any evidence that he was lying. The pale boy stared back at the older woman, his face an unreadable mask. After a moment, Tsunade broke the eye contact, satisfied that he was indeed telling the truth.

"Tsunade-sama," Kakashi said, panic still evident in his voice, "What exactly is going on? You said the seal is gone, but if so, where's the Kyuubi? Surely we would have noticed if it were running free once more." Tsunade returned her worried gaze to the young man lying on the bed.

"I don't know. If I had to guess, I'd say the only way for the seal to disappear like it has is if the Kyuubi no longer exsisted."

Kakashi struggled to put his thoughts together, "but isn't that a good thing? If the fox is dead-"

"I never said it was dead," Tsunade interrupted, her voice harsh, "I said it didn't _exsist._ Even a dead entity still exsists. And even if the fox had died, the seal would remain! What I ment was that the being we know as the Nine Tailed Fox no longer exsisted in any form; living of dead."

"How is that possible?" Sai asked, his emotion creeping back into his voice.

"I don't know, damnit!" Tsunade shouted at him, "I'm not a seal expert! And the second best seal expert to ever come out of Konoha just went and got himself _killed_ because he was too stupid to take backup!"

Kakashi attempted to calm his irrate leader, "Let's look at the facts again. We know the Kyuubi's gone, right? And we know that it's not out destroying things. And if it didn't leave Naruto's body, it must have been....absorbed by him or something," the jounin looked at Tsunade uncertainly, "Could Naruto possibly absorb the Kyuubi?"

The older woman's brows furrowed as she racked her brain for knowledge of the seal, "In order for that to happen, all of the demon's chakra would have to have been absorbed into Naruto's system. A discharge of energy like that would have been enormous. There's no place in Konoha with enough suppressents to block anything like that."

Sai's already pale face became even paler. He knew of a place.....

Tsunade turned back to her patient, "In any case, if that is what happend, it would certainly explain how the seal dissapeared. But there's no way of knowing how something like that would effect Naruto's body. I'll have to run more tests....." she trailed off, her mind working furiously to determine what would need to be done. She faced the two ninja once more, "You two, get me Shizune. Then go do whatever it is you have to. I'll alert you when I have some results." The two nin nodded and left the room. They were immediatly met with a very anxious Team 8.

"What's going on?" Kiba asked quickly.

"Is Naruto going to be alright?" Hinata put in.

"Why were we booted out?"

"When can we wake him up?"

"We deserve to know what's going on with our friend!"

"Naruto's going to be okay, right? What's going on with the metal in his bones and-"

Kakashi massaged his temples; he could feel a headache coming on, "Tsunade-sama has to run some more tests on him before we can get some answers. Until then we all will just have to wait. I'm sure Naruto's going to be fine." With a heavy sigh, Kakashi slowly walked down the hallway, Sai following behind. There was silence as the three chunin watched them walk out of the ward. Kiba then rounded on his teammates.

"There's something big going on, and we're not being let in on it. There's something they don't want us to know, and Naruto's right at the center of it."

Hinata's eyes darkened with concern, "I sure hope Naruto-kun's okay..."

Kiba turned to the stoic male beside him, "What do you think Shino?"

While the previous conversation was taking place, no one noticed a lone insect fly onto Shino's outstretched finger. The silent boy had been communicating with it while the others were busy. He now addressed his teammates.

"It appears that, in their hurry, the others forgot one of the origional purposes of my beatles. The few still keeping Naruto unconsious were present for the discussion."

It took but a moment for the others to realize what that ment. Kiba spoke up first, "So you mean you know what they said in there?"

"Affirmative."

"That's great! So what's going on?" Shino paused for a moment, considering how best to word the information he had recieved. He decided that he might as well be blunt.

"It appears," he began, "that the Nine Tailed demon that attacked the village was sealed inside of Naruto."

This statement was met with silence. Kiba and Hinata's faces betrayed a deep shock that rendered them speachless. Even Akamaru seemed suprised by the news. Tentatively, as if not altogether sure of what he had heard, Kiba asked, "What?"

"It is as I said," Shino spoke, emotionless as ever, "The fox that attacked our village years ago was not killed. Instead, it was sealed inside of Naruto to be kept prisoner."

Streams of tears had begun running down Hinata's face as she comprehended the news, "That explains it. Why the villagers hated him so much before. They were afraid- afraid of Naruto! But Naruto's not the Kyuubi...he couldn't be! Naruto's not a demon! He didn't deserve that!" More tears threatened to emerge from the kunoichi's lavender eyes, but she fought to regain her composure. Kiba's shock began to turn to confusion.

"Wait," he began, "You said the demon_ was_ sealed into Naruto. Was. Not is. What happened to it?"

"It appears that the Kyuubi has disappeared, the seal along with it. It is hypothosized that Naruto may have absorbed it."

"But if he absorbed it," Kiba paused, thinking it through, "if he absorbed it, then it's part of him. Kyuubi is a part of him."

"Kiba!" Hinata snapped, "How could you say that!? Naruto is still Naruto, no matter what happens! He isn't a demon!"

"I know that!" Kiba snapped back, his tone causing Akamaru to whine, "I'm just saying that Naruto might be in trouble or something! Absorbing a demon can't be good for him!"

Hinata grew even more worried than before. Naruto was in trouble. She had to help him somehow. Without another word to her teammates, Hinata quickly sprinted down the hall. She had to find Shizune, get her to convice Tsunade that she could help. Ignoring the boy's calls, the young woman ran from the hospital ward.

* * *

Shizune was jogging through the corridors, towards the ward Team 8 had just left. Kakashi had found her and informed her that Tsunade need her help, that Naruto was in trouble. He briefly summerized what had happened, and what they thought. How could the seal vanish like this? Did Naruto really absorb the Kyuubi?

"Shizune-san!"

The woman was broken from her musings as a very distraught Hyuuga Hinata ran towards her. The girl's eyes were red and puffy, as if she'd been crying. Her hair was in dissarry from her mad dash through the hospital. There was a look of panic on her face. Something was very wrong.

"Hinata, what's wrong?" Shizune asked, hurrying towards the kunoichi. Hinata swiftly met her in the hall.

"You have to let me help Naruto-kun!" She shouted. Shizune's heart broke a little, seeing Hinata so distraught over the man she loved, and knowing that her request would have to be denied.

"I'm sorry Hinata, but this is a classified matter. You can't be involved-"

"I know! I know about Naruto's secret! I know what's going on, and that's why you have to let me help!" Shizune was shocked speachless for a moment.

"I don't know how you found out, but I'm sorry, you can't help." Her tone softened, "Besides, what did you expect to do? There's very little we know about the situation, and I don't see how you could give us any insight-"

"If Naruto really did absorb it," Hinata interrupted, a look of desperation on her face, "then he's not going to be the same! He may be the same Naruto on the inside, but he'll have changed!"

Shizune had a sinking feeling in her stomach, as she suspected where Hinata was going with this.

The girl continued, her voice pleading, "Naruto might not be human anymore," tears were once again spilling down Hinata's face, "and there may be nothing you can do! That's why I've got to help! You've got to let me help him! I love him!"

Shizune put her hands on Hinata's shoulders, attempting to calm the frantic young woman down, "Hinata, I know, okay? I know. But if Naruto really has changed then-"

"DON'T YOU GET IT!?" Hinata screamed, her hysteria growing, "DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND!?" several nurses and doctors looked out from hosipital rooms, wondering what all the noise was about. Shizune was on the verge of tears herself because of the raw despiration Hinata exuded, "I HAVE TO HELP NARUTO-KUN BECAUSE WE'RE THE SAME! DON'T YOU GET IT!? HE'S JUST LIKE ME NOW!!"

* * *

CLIFFHANGER!!! Aren't I such a stinker? Oooo many of you are probably confused about what's going on, but I bet a couple of you have some pretty good guesses as to what Hinata ment. I hope this satisfied your need for Naruto-X-men crossovers for the time being. Please review and tell me what you thought!


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